


Womanhood

by FandomFluid



Category: Fruits Basket, Fruits Basket (Anime), Fruits Basket - Takaya Natsuki (Manga)
Genre: Body Dysmorphia, F/M, First Periods, I still care a lot about fruits basket, Internalized Misogyny, Puberty, body image issues, female akito, mentions of parental abuse, this is mostly self indulgent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-30
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2018-09-20 23:33:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9520958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FandomFluid/pseuds/FandomFluid
Summary: A series of oneshots looking into Akito's struggle with femininity through her life.





	1. Chapter 1

Akito woke up to the instinctual feeling that something was off, as well as the dull throbbing in her stomach. She sighed and laid back down, paying it all no mind. She was used to her stomach feeling weird, it was something that almost always came with sickness and was therefore, just a fact of her life. At any given point, her stomach could start feeling weird for a while, and she’d just have to accept it.

She sighed and laid her head back down on the pillow, turning over and pulling her legs up closer to her chest to try and diminish at least some of the pain. It didn’t work, leaving her groaning with impatience and sitting up in her futon. She rubbed the back of her neck and glanced around her dark room. The only streams of light came from the moon and a street lamp just outside the main estate. She had no idea what time it was, but she decided it had to be past midnight. Shigure had always called it ‘The Witching Hour’ when he told her stories of all sorts of monsters and demons that wandered the Earth at that time of night, looking to prey upon the little humans dumb enough to be out and about when they should be in bed. She quickly looked away from the window, not because she was scared she might see something out there, though. She just wasn’t interested.

The throbbing seemed to get worse, making her groan in pain and lean over where she sat. She felt like she’d been simultaneously punched and stabbed in the gut, and the pain itself made her nauseated. She got up and stumbled out of her bedroom and down the hall to her bathroom. She turned on the light to the toilet and closed the door behind her, kneeling down to vomit into the bowl.

When she’d finished, she sighed and stood up, catching sight of a small trickle of red rolling down her left leg. If her coughing and vomiting into the toilet hadn’t woken the other residents of the main house, then her subsequent shrieking definitely did.

It only took a few moments for maids to rush out and over to her, all the lights in the house being turned on in a frenzy along the way.

“Akito, what’s wrong?” One of the older maids asked, gently resting a hand on the young god’s back.

Akito frowned and stepped away from the maid before slapping her hard across the cheek. “Don’t talk to me like that. I’m not your friend.” She spat.

“Forgive her, Lord Akito, she’s too tired to be in her right senses.” Another maid said quickly to calm Akito’s anger.

“Or she’s just stupid, whatever excuse works.” Akito sneered.

“My lord, what’s wrong? Why did you scream?” The second maid asked, having grown used to the twelve-year-old’s temper.

“I’m bleeding out with no sign of stopping. Get me Hatori.”

“Hatori’s very busy as a pre-med student. Surely another doctor would work? We could call an ambulance and have someone arrive right away.”

“No, I want Hatori. He’s never too busy for me, anyways. His world revolves around me.”

The maid sighed, knowing there was no use in trying to persuade the young head at that point. “Very well, we’ll call for him. Until then, why don’t we stop up the wound, at least temporarily, so you don’t bleed all over until he gets here?”

“No.”

“May I ask my lord why not?”

“Because I don’t know where the wound is.” Akito said softly, casting her gaze down to her feet, noticing the trickle still flowing down her leg and the side of her pale ankle.

The maid noticed the trickle as well while another maid went to call Hatori in the other room. “It looks like it’s coming from your leg. May I check?”

Akito nodded, letting the maid gently push up the bottom of her sleeping yukata. The maid pushed up and up until the robe had been gathered at her hip and the source of the blood seemed lie within her boxer briefs. The maid quickly dropped the yukata, glancing around to make sure no one else had seen.

“My lord, if you’ll come with me. I know what this is and I can help clean you up.” The maid said calmly.

Akito nodded and followed after her as she got a clean pair of boxer briefs that had been drying on the line. The maid then led her into another bathroom where she got something wrapped up in thin yellow plastic. The maid unwrapped the yellow thing, revealing what looked like the bottom part of a diaper. She stuck it inside the clean boxer briefs like a weird sticker before looking up at Akito again.

“Here, step out of your old boxers and into these. We can have the old ones cleaned for you.” The maid instructed.

Akito blinked and decided to do as she was told rather than snap at the maid for telling her what to do. She pulled the clean boxers on and shifted a bit at the odd feeling of the diaper-like sticker inside of them.

“Hatori’s on his way, sir. He’ll be here in a few minutes.” Another maid said from the doorway while the other cleaned the blood on Akito’s leg for her.

Akito just nodded. “Is there ibuprofen in here? My stomach hurts really bad.”

The maid nodded and finished cleaning off her leg. She then went to a medicine cabinet and brought out a bottle.

“I can’t take that! Are you stupid?” Akito spat when she noticed the label on the bottle.

“It’s ibuprofen, sir.” The maid tried calmly.

“Ibuprofen for women, maybe. It won’t work the same on me.”

The maid blinked at that and silently decided not to fight it and got out another bottle of regular ibuprofen for the young god. She shook out two pills and got a small glass of water, handing them over.

Akito swallowed the pills down with the water and gave the cup back to the maid before heading back to her bedroom to wait for Hatori tiredly. As promised, it didn’t take him long to arrive.

Hatori listened as one of the maids explained everything to him as he took off his shoes. “He woke up stomach pains and… bleeding? Did you give him any medicine yet?”

“Yes, I gave him regular ibuprofen. I tried to give him Bufferin Luna, but he saw the label and lost it. Evidently it wouldn’t work as well on him.” The maid replied honestly, shaking her head a bit.

Hatori looked up at the woman at that. “Well, I guess home schooling only does so much. He really needs to get out more often, but the moment he does, his body will probably shut itself down.” He sighed. “Is he in his bedroom?”

“Yes, he’s waiting for you.”

“Alright. Does he know anything about what’s happening?”

“No, Ren told his tutors to keep health education don’t-ask-don’t-tell.”

Hatori sighed and shook his head. “Alright. You’d might as well make us some tea, then. I’ll probably be here for a while.”

“Alright. I’m sorry you had to be called here at two in the morning for this. You probably have classes tomorrow and your studies to worry about.” The maid said to him.

“It’s fine. If I don’t tell Akito all of this, who will? Besides, I can just down a cup or two of coffee if I need it.” Hatori said with a shrug before walking down the hall to Akito’s bedroom. He knocked on the wood of the sliding door before pushing it open. His fatigue suddenly stopped mattering when the girl waiting in the room looked over and smiled at him.

“Hatori.” Akito hummed happily, hugging her older cousin as he came in and sat with her.

“Hey, Akito. Not sleeping too well, huh?” Hatori replied, letting her climb onto his lap as she always had when she was a little girl.

“No, not at all. Did the maid tell you everything?”

“Yeah, she did. “

“Good, then you can help me get it bandaged. All she did was give me a diaper sticker.”

“Actually, she did everything that you really can do for this. What she gave you was called a pad, because this is a kind of bleeding you can’t just stop with pressure and a band-aid.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what you’re experiencing is called a ‘menstrual cycle’ or, more commonly, a ‘period.’ It’s completely normal and happens to every woman in the world.”

“Why’s it happening to me, then?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you just said that it happens to every woman in the world. So, why is it happening to me?”

Hatori blinked in shock at that. “Akito, do you think you’re a boy or a girl?”

Akito paused at the question and thought it over for a bit. “Well, I’m pretty sure Papa always used to call me his ‘little girl’ or ‘daughter’ or something like that. But, I can’t remember it exactly. Everyone else calls me a boy, though. All the maids, all of you, literally everyone. The entire world can’t be lying to me. So, maybe I’m just remembering wrong. If everyone says I’m a boy, then I must be a boy.”

Hatori sighed and gently started to rub her back. He made a mental note to never raise his own children as Akito had been, if he ever had children. “When you were born, Akito, you were born a girl. As per your mother’s wish, however, you were brought up as a boy. I don’t know why she’d choose to do such a thing, but she did. The only people who know otherwise are myself, Kureno, Shigure, Ayame, Ren, the maid who helped you just a few minutes ago, and the midwives who were at your birth. In short, you’re a little girl whom everyone believes is a little boy. Now, you’re twelve years old and you’ve started transitioning into an adult woman. You’ve started puberty, do you know what that is?”

“Kind of. It’s when you get pimply and gross for a while, right?”

“Yes. If you keep eating well and wash your face every night, though, you can avoid the pimples. As a girl, you’ll grow a bit taller, your voice might get higher, you’ll develop breasts and wider hips, and you’ll get hair starting to grow under your arms, on your legs, and on your pubic region. Plus, you’ve gotten your first menstrual cycle.”

“Okay. So, what’s the menstrual cycle do, then? Am I just bleeding for fun?”

“No, your uterus is shedding its lining and it’s passing through your vagina and out of your body. This means that, technically, your body is capable of carrying and delivering a baby now. Every month, your uterus lines itself and waits a while. If, at the end of the cycle, the egg cell prepared isn’t fertilized and embedded in the lining of the uterus, it sheds the lining to prepare a new one. Basically, your body finds out that you’re not pregnant, and cleans out everything to get it all ready and fresh again, just in case you get pregnant the next month around.”

“So, I could have babies now?” Akito asked softly, her nose wrinkled at the thought.

“It’s possible, yes, but not at all a good idea. Your body might have a menstrual cycle now, but you’re not nearly mentally or physically ready to have heirs yet. Don’t worry, I think you’ve got a good eight to ten years before people start pushing you to reproduce. If this were medieval times, you might be pushed into a marriage and having kids now, but that’s how people die in childbirth, and times have changed quite a bit. Most Japanese women don’t have kids until they’re in their thirties these days.” Hatori replied to her with a small smile, glad she was taking all the new information well. He figured if her tutors could just teach her more than the things she had to know to run a company, she could be an extremely intelligent young girl.

Akito relaxed and nodded. “How do people get pregnant, then? You said the egg has to embed in the uterus, right? How does it know to do that?”

“Well, women have egg cells that contain half the DNA and chromosomes needed to make another human. These samples of DNA all come from you. That’s how children get to look so much like their parents. Men, then, have sperm cells that contain the other half of DNA and chromosomes needed. The sperm fertilizes the egg and then pushes it up into the uterus. Once the fertilized egg is embedded in the uterus, that’s conception, and the woman is pregnant. This generally happens as a result of sexual intercourse.” Hatori replied to her easily.

“What’s sexual intercourse?” She asked curiously.

“You can ask your health tutor about that.”

“Alright. How do the babies get each trait from their parents? I mean, if a baby gets half it’s DNA from its mother and half from its father, why do people always say I look exactly like Ren? Why don’t I look half like Ren and half like Papa?”

“That’s a great question, and more of one for a geneticist. Some genes that are passed down are dominant and some are recessive. For example, you got straight black hair like your mother, while your father had dark brown, almost curly hair. Your mother’s gene for straight black hair must have been dominant while your father’s hair was recessive. So, your mother’s gene won out and was passed along to you.”

Akito listened and took it all in, looking up when the maid walked in with fresh tea for the two of them. She watched as Hatori took a book out of his bag while they were served the tea, looking over the pages as he showed her the pages and pictures and examples of Punnett squares to show her generally how genetics could be calculated. The girl listened and sipped her tea, growing more and more sleepy all the while.

“Hatori?”

“Yes, Akito?”

“How long do periods usually last?”

“On average, they last between three to seven days and happen once a month.”

“I might bleed for seven days straight?”

“There’s a possibility, yes.”

Akito paused at the thought and sighed. “I’m going to bed.”

Hatori grinned and laughed, letting her crawl off his lap and curl up in her futon once again.

“Good night, Akito.” He said, tucking her in once again and kissing her forehead.

“Good night, Hatori.” She yawned, falling asleep before he could pack his things and leave the room.


	2. Chapter 2

There was something about her reflection in the mirror that made Akito want to stand and stare, as well as turn away and silently resolve never to look into that particular mirror ever again as if it had wronged her. Her body, which had always been rather straight and could pass as boyish was starting to change, regardless of whether she wanted it to or not. The changes were faint, but the more she looked, the more obvious they felt. 

She traced her fingers lightly over her face. Her cheeks still felt soft, like a baby’s, though there were small raised bumps along her jawline and chin. 

‘Hormones,’ Hatori had said with an easy shrug. Apparently, everyone got them, especially during puberty. They would go away if she kept her face clean and washed it every morning and night. She hoped he was right. It was hard for anyone to take someone seriously when they had the ugly little bumps across their face. 

Just out of curiosity, she examined her teeth. In a few days, she’d have to get her wisdom teeth removed since they had recently started to bother her and cause some pain. None of the maids wanted to tell her why those particular teeth were causing her pain. They all said that it would just be useless knowledge that would clutter her head. She had more important things to focus on, after all. Not knowing about these mysterious teeth only made her mind wander to them further, though. 

She closed her mouth and sighed softly through her nose. She traced her fingers over her lips absently. She wasn’t yet sure how she felt about that feature of her body. On one hand, they were nothing like the lips she always saw in magazine ads and on TV. The girls in those always had soft pink lips that were small and dainty. Hers were fuller and seemed to be a more beige color, which often made her wonder if there was a reason why she didn’t often see models, actresses, or even idol girls with lips like hers. On the other hand, though, Shigure always told her how much he loved them. He often said they were like a fully bloomed rose. 

‘You shouldn’t compare yourself to those girls on TV or in magazines, Aki,’ He would croon while holding her in his lap like a child. ‘They’re all either caked in makeup or so photoshopped they’re barely human anymore. Probably even both. They’re not real at all. You’re very real and you’re going to be drop-dead gorgeous when you’re done growing.’ 

Shigure always treated her like a child. Why she always put up with it, she was never sure. 

Her fingers trailed down her jaw until she let her hands fall back down to her sides. Well, just staring and zoning out into the mirror wouldn’t get her ready for the day any faster. Finally, she tore her attention over to the clothes hanging up for her to wear for the day. While her tutor would be coming that morning, she had a meeting at lunch with some men from the family’s company, and no time to change between the two. So, she would be forced to spend the morning in the uncomfortable suit that had been prepared for her instead of the kimono she’d rather be wearing. 

She frowned once she’d finished tucking her shirt into her pants. At fourteen years old, her body was still growing, but her figure was developed just enough to be just slightly evident under the white cotton. 

A knock on the door interrupted her train of thought. 

“Sir? Your tutor is here.” A maid called through the door. “Will you be much longer, sir?” 

_ Stupid bitch. Why didn’t she tell me sooner when he’d be here?  _ Akito glowered at the door. She shifted her thoughts back to the problem, or problems, at hand. The tutor would be expecting a boy, and wouldn’t know any better. In her usual kimonos, she could wear the top loosely and cover herself with a jacket to hide anything that might raise suspicions. Whoever had picked out the suit for her was obviously an idiot. The shirt was much too slim-fitting. 

“No, I’ll be right out.” She called back, pulling on the suit jacket and relaxing a bit when she found that it hung just shapelessly enough to conceal any parts of her torso she wanted to. With that, she finally left the bathroom, coming face to face with the maid on the other side of the sliding door. 

“Find whoever chose my clothes for today and tell them to report to me later. Next time I’m expecting someone, you will alert me shortly before they arrive. Now I’m late, and it’s all your fault. If you’re too much of an idiot to handle that much, then find someone who can.” She spat, walking past the maid and down the long hallways of the main house. 

“Yes, sir. I’m very sorry, sir.” The maid replied, lowering her gaze respectfully. 

Akito paid her no mind and kept walking down the wooden hallways, before stopping at one of the sliding doors and letting herself into the room. The room wasn’t a big one. It was a plain, mostly unfurnished room, that could be used for almost anything. The floors were tatami, and there was a single low table set up in the middle that could easily be moved if need be. Usually, that room was used for her lessons, small meetings, or as a guest room. 

The tutor was already sitting on one side of the table, materials spread out across the wood. 

“Excuse me,” Akito said as she stepped into the room. 

“Good morning, Sohma.” The tutor replied, standing up to greet her respectfully. 

Akito’s relationship with her tutors had always been a weird one, though it was much weirder when she was a child. On one hand, the tutors were her elders, and were her authority figures, within the context of education. However, she was the head of a very large, very wealthy and influential family. They’d decided that it would be easiest for the tutor to be superior, but only while they were having lessons. If she ever saw the tutor on the street, or outside of their lessons, she was superior. 

She sat down at the other side of the table, her own notebooks already in a stack on the side. 

“We’re going to start with English today.” The tutor said. 

She nodded and pulled the corresponding notebook from the stack, opening it up to her last page of notes. English was her best subject, but only in writing. Her tutor was an Englishman, and was very strict about her accent, and was hardly ever pleased when she tried to speak the language. 

That particular lesson was heavily focused on speaking practice, which made it feel like it lasted for years. 

“‘It is a truth…. u-uni-universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.’” She read aloud haltingly. 

“‘It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in  want of a wife.’” The tutor repeated, much smoother. “Say it like that.” 

“‘It is a truth yoo-niversally acknowledged, that a single man in possess-in of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.’” She repeated, trying to copy the sounds he’d made when saying the words. 

“That’s better. Read the next quote on the sheet.” The tutor said. 

Akito sighed and did as she was told. She must have gone over all those quotes on the two-sided sheet of paper a hundred times before the tutor finally decided to move on.  

The lessons only lasted until noon, but they felt like an eternity. At noon, Akito ate a small lunch, and at about one, the businessmen started to show up. Akito excused herself to the bathroom, telling the maids to let the businessmen into the meeting room and that she’d meet them in there. 

After washing her hands, she splashed water onto her face to wake herself up. Then, she walked back down the long hallways of the main house. 

The thing with old, traditional Japanese style homes like the main house, was that a lot of the doors and walls were made of paper. There weren’t a lot of secrets that couldn’t pass through to unwelcome ears. 

“Taking orders and answering to a little boy, what a joke.” One of the older men griped. “It’s demeaning.” 

“You’d think a family like the Sohma’s could have lined up a sort of regent to act long after his father died. These people seem so stupid, it’s a wonder they still have any money left.” Another agreed. 

Akito stopped outside the sliding door, letting the old wood creak underneath her feet to announce her presence for them. The men were suddenly quiet when she slid the door open. 

“Sohma, it’s good to meet you, sir.” One man said as they all stood up respectfully to her. 

Akito looked up at the man. He must have been the newer American worker, who’d taken over as the financer. She didn’t recognize his voice from the group of disgruntled old men. 

“It’s good to meet you, too. McDonald, was it?” She replied politely, bowing her head lightly in reply to him. 

“Yes, sir. Like the fast-food chain.” The man replied with a smile. “Oh! Here, I read online that giving gifts was normal when going to someone’s house for the first time here.” 

Akito blinked as the man held a small bag out to her. “Oh, thank you, but I can’t accept something like that.” 

“No, I insist.” He replied, pushing it out towards her again. 

“Alright, thank you.” She replied, taking the bag with both hands. She looked inside and pulled out an AKB48 CD. 

“The shopkeeper told me all young men your age like them,” McDonald said with a happy grin. 

“Thank you, it’s wonderful,” Akito replied politely, wondering why the man couldn’t have just bought an orange basket or something basic. She set the bag against a wall and moved to sit down at the head of the meeting table, keeping her back straight and head high to seem bigger than she was. 

As the meeting got started, a maid came in quietly and poured out tea for everyone around the table. The meeting went without interruption until about halfway through when a maid quietly slipped inside and knelt down next to her. 

“Sir, Shigure’s asking for you. What should I tell him?” She asked. 

“Tell him to wait for me, and to get a better sense of timing,” Akito replied before turning her attention back to the meeting. 

When the meeting was over, she found Shigure sitting on the veranda of her bedroom, swinging his legs off the side. She felt her heart rate increase when he turned around and gave her that wide, familiar grin. She walked over to sit down next to him on the veranda. 

“So, I need a better sense of timing, huh?” He asked, turning to face her. 

“Yes, you do. You always come when I’m at my busiest.” She replied with a nod. “It seems to be a talent of yours.” 

“I’m a man of many talents,” Shigure said, wiggling his eyebrows. 

“Oh, shut up,” Akito said, lightly pushing him with a foot. “Why did you come over today?” 

“Because it’s a beautiful summer day, you’re not that sick right now, and I think you should get out of the house to enjoy it,” Shigure replied. “Come on, change into something more weather appropriate, and we’ll get ice cream.”

“Alright, that doesn’t sound too bad.” She replied, getting up from the floor to slip back into her room and close the door for privacy while she changed. She didn’t have a lot of summer clothes, because she typically didn’t go out much in summer. It was always too hot for much and left her feeling sluggish and sweaty. If she could help it, she’d spend every summer day inside, sitting in front of multiple fans. 

With nothing much to wear, she kept her black dress pants on and traded the blazer and long-sleeved button-down shirt for a short-sleeved button-down shirt. She smoothed the fabric down before checking her face in a mirror that hung over her dresser. She fussed with her bangs for a bit, finger-combing them straight. Then, she pinched her cheeks to make them look pinker and give herself a more healthy-looking flush. 

“Are you almost done? God, you’re such a girl.” Shigure teased from outside. 

“And you’re an ass.” She called back before opening the door again. “I need to get my shoes. Why don’t I meet you out front?” 

“It’s a plan.” He replied, hopping off the veranda to walk around the front of the house. 

Akito shut the door again before leaving her room and walking down to the front entrance of the main house. 

“Sir? Are you going somewhere?” One of the maids asked. 

“Obviously,” Akito replied, pulling her shoes on easily 

“Will that be good for your health?” the maid asked. 

“You’re not my doctor, what do you care?” Akito snapped back, standing up and moving to meet Shigure out in the front of the house. 

Shigure smiled at her and walked by her side out of the main house and to the entrance of the main estate. “You know, you should get cooler clothes.” He commented. 

“What’s wrong with what I have now?” Akito asked with a small frown.

“Well, for one, you look like a schoolboy. Aki, your wardrobe consists of suits and a bunch of nagajuban that you wear like regular kimono.” Shigure replied. “Come on, you’re a teenager. Don’t you want to dress like a normal teenager?” 

“What difference does it make, whether I dress my age or not?” She asked. 

“Well, it might help you relate to some of the other Sohma teenagers a bit better. Let’s be real here, other than me and Kureno, you don’t really have a lot of friends.” Shigure replied bluntly. 

“I don’t have the time or the option to be a child, Shigure, I’m busy,” Akito replied with a small sigh. 

“I know, and I hate that. You’re only fourteen, you should be outside, riding a bike around with friends and enjoying your last year’s of childhood.” Shigure replied with a frown, looking down at her. “I know you have no other option, but it sucks that your only taste of freedom is when I steal you away like this.” 

Akito looked up at him and said nothing. All she could think about was how concerned Shigure seemed to be for her. That meant he thought and cared about her. 

“Well, it’s not like it would matter anyway. Hatori said I’m starting to grow very quickly now, so there’s no sense I. Buying a bunch of clothes I won’t get much use out of.” Akito shrugged. “Shigure? Do you love me?” 

Shigure blinked at the question and smiled down at her. “Of course I do. We all love you, Aki.” 

“Would you love me, even if you had the choice?” She asked. “If there was no curse and you had the choice to love me, would you?” 

“Of course I would. You’re my family, and I’ve known you since you were a baby.” Shigure replied. 

“Just because someone’s family, doesn’t mean you always have to love them.” Akito pointed out. 

“Yeah, and you need to stop listening to Ren.” Shigure hummed, ruffling her hair. “You know she only ever says stuff to get under your skin and psych you out. Stop paying attention to her.”

Akito fell silent at that, knowing full well that he had a valid point. She kept close to him as they walked into the 7-Eleven, one after the other. She followed Shigure back to the drink coolers and the little freezer full of ice cream. 

“There’s too many to choose from.” Shigure lamented. “What kind do you want, Aki?” 

“Don’t call me Aki in public,” Akito replied, grabbing a strawberry mochi ice cream and handing it over to Shigure. 

“Sure thing, Little Aki,” Shigure replied.

Akito glowered and hit the backside of his head. Shigure just laughed and grabbed a mango mochi ice cream for himself. He got a couple bottles of water from a beverage cooler and walked up to the front counter to pay. 

Akito got momentarily distracted by a magazine next to the checkout till that displayed a couple of young women on the front. The girls both had porcelain skin, straight dark hair, big eyes, and even bigger breasts. She looked back over at Shigure before she could think about how different she looked compared to them. 

“I can pay.” She said when he handed the money over in the tray. 

“No, it’s fine, Aki. I just got the royalty check from my first book anyways.” Shigure replied, taking the change from the cashier. 

“Oh, that’s right. You got your book published.” She hummed, taking her bottle of water and ice cream from the counter and walking out with Shigure to eat sitting down on a nearby public bench. 

“Yep! They’re already saying I should start working on another one.” Shigure hummed as he started to work on opening his bottle of water. 

Akito watched him struggle with the bottle until it finally cracked open, spilling on his shirt in the process. She smiled and laughed behind her hand, only laughing more when he took a bit of water on his fingers and flicked it at her in retaliation. 

“See how it feels?” He asked with a grin, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to hug her tightly while ruffling her hair even further. 

Had it been anyone else, Akito might have berated them for treating her like a child. However, with Shigure it was different. Perhaps it was because she’d chosen him as a favorite. Perhaps it had something to do with the way he made her heart rate pick up. She couldn’t really be sure. 

She opened up her ice cream and started to eat it, letting it cool her down on that hot summer day. She relaxed in the comfortable silence while eating and drinking next to Shigure and just watching the other people of the town wander about and go about their daily business. 

After a little bit, she glanced up at Shigure, catching him looking across the street at someone. She followed his gaze over to a pair of older girls, walking and talking with shopping bags on their arms. They both looked relatively normal, compared to the models on the covers of magazines, but they were both still very pretty. Akito wondered what she’d look like if she had long hair and wore breezy, floral sundresses like the two girls across the street. Probably not very good. 

She adjusted her shirt a bit, self-consciously pulling it away from her chest. The more she looked like a boy, the fewer people would compare her to other girls. When she went back to eating, she noticed Shigure looking over at her. 

“What’s wrong?” She asked with a small frown. 

“Did you use bandages to, uh, flatten yourself?” Shigure asked, keeping his voice low and quiet. 

“Is this shirt that transparent?” Akito asked with a frown.

“When the sunlight hits it just right, yeah,” Shigure replied. “Aki, I wish you wouldn’t do that. I’m no doctor, but I’m pretty sure that’s not safe.” 

“Well, what do you suggest, then?” She asked with a frown. 

“I don’t know. Not that. Those bandages are meant to hold things down and in place. Your chest needs to move to breathe, and those might make it hard.” He replied, frowning in return. “Talk to Hatori for other options, maybe he’d know. But there’s got to be better ones.”

Akito sighed and just went back to eating her ice cream. “What I do to conceal myself is none of your business. Stop butting in where you’re not wanted.” 

“I just want to make sure you’re safe, that’s all,” Shigure said, keeping his voice gentle. 

“You’re not my brother, you’re not my father, you’re not my doctor. You’re just a big, stupid mutt. So, stop telling me what to do.” Akito snapped back, throwing her ice cream wrapper at his face before getting up from the bench. “Come on, we’re going home.” 

Shigure just nodded and got up from the bench obediently, walking the girl back to the main estate. 


End file.
